An Untitled Novel

Basil was vaguely aware of somebody calling his name. He heard another shout, this time more clearly, though he still couldn’t recognize the voice or tell which direction it was coming from. “Basil!” He heard it again, this time evidently much closer. He looked up to see Spiro running towards him, pistol in hand and pointed in his direction. Spiro fired and one of the Lizard King’s soldiers hit the ground right next to Basil. Spiro ran up and began to look him over, checking his arm and the weapon on the ground. Basil remained silent and had a noticeably paler complexion.

“Leave him, we need to go now!” Cicero said, shouting over the ringing in his ears. Spiro shook his head while picking up Basil’s rifle. “He’s hurt, and he just took down two dozen of the Lizard King’s men. We need his help.” Cicero spoke with incredulity. “The ones with rifles fled as he arrived, and you have his weapon now. We just witnessed the royal family get abducted, the fate of the pretender is not my concern.” Spiro turned around to see Basil standing, having propped himself up on the side of the now wrecked truck. “Can you move your left arm?” Basil flexed his fingers and nodded before giving a delayed response. “I think so, yeah.” Spiro seemed pleased as he handed Basil’s rifle back to him.

“Very good, you’re injured, but it’s not critical. The fighting is consolidated along the walls, there’s no way out but through it. We should move towards where they took the Redcap King and see if there’s anything we can do before they get to those machines.”

Basil started to move around the truck to get his backpack and ammo, feeling invigorated as the adrenaline returned to his system. Basil, mind still clouded and unsure of how to react to the situation, tried to force a smile. “After all this time, none of you were going to tell me you guys have fucking spacecraft?” Spiro looked horrified. “You don’t know what those are?” Basil’s forced smile disappeared.

“No.”

Basil inserted the new magazine into the rifle and quickly inspected it for damage before chambering a round while fighting the pain in his left arm. The optic and part of the plastic rail seemed smashed, and the rifle was covered in mud and flecks of blood, but it seemed to be in working condition. Spiro began walking towards Cicero and Casio who appeared to be looking over the wounded and dead soldiers nearby. Finally settling on weapons, Cicero selected a small blade that appeared to be intended as the secondary weapon for a much larger dead soldier, and Casio selected a very large blade. Basil arrived behind Spiro, just in time to watch as Cicero plunged his newly acquired blade into the neck of a seemingly paralyzed soldier which Basil had shot in the commotion.

“We need to stop them” Cicero said to the group, before turning to Casio and asking “Are you ready?” Casio looked at Cicero wordlessly, but after a few seconds of eye contact Cicero nodded and returned his attention to the other two. “Basil, you think you can do this?” Spiro asked. Basil replied with a nod as Cicero continued. “Okay, they took the royal family out of the front of the castle and traveled around it. Follow me through it, we might be able to beat them to the back where their machines are.” Cicero and Casio ran off quickly with Basil lagging behind and Spiro in between trying to keep tabs on all four. Basil made his way through the castle, ornate carpet and riches contrasted with blood and dead guards, although he was unable to fully process everything around him and intentionally focused on keeping up with Spiro. Finally, having made his way through the castle and exiting out of a backdoor likely intended for servants he saw the three large craft parked outside and a small group of soldiers fighting with Cicero and Casio.

The crafts were nothing like any sort of aircraft he was familiar with. There were three, two smaller ones flanking a larger one in the center. The two smaller ones had a distinctly gray-green metallic color, seemed to be about the size of a small plane, and were entirely featureless cylindrical objects - except for what appeared to be a very tall personal door on the back. The center one, however, was considerably larger and had a flat shape that almost looked like a stingray, though it carried the same distinctive color. On the back of the craft existed a large door that looked like something intended to drive vehicles out of, and the ramp for the door was open and extended.

Basil began to raise his rifle, standing next to Spiro who held out his pistol, but both watched in near bewilderment as Casio moved blindingly fast; dispatching all five of the Lizard King’s soldiers that stood in their way. Several stood far to their left and began to move in their direction until Spiro opened fire and they all dropped to the ground. Several stood far to their right, and Basil raised his rifle, but their advancement was stopped to engage several Redcap guards exiting another door similar to the one the four had exited from. The two elongated crafts began to silently hover despite no obvious methods of propulsion, but the one stingray-shaped craft remained stationary and open. The four began a sprint to catch up with the last remaining craft before its pilot - if there was a pilot on such a craft - realized what was occurring and fled.

Running up the ramp and barely making it into the craft as the door began to close, the ‘Wizard’ stepped out from around the corner to greet the four. “Betrayer!” he shouted, seemingly intended towards Basil. Basil, despite his clouded mind, was the only one who spoke in response. “Betrayer!?” Basil asked incredulously, before pausing and searching for what to say. “I didn’t even know it was your guys until it was too late! And you promised peace!” That statement earned him a very angry look from Cicero, but Basil continued, ignoring it. “When you said you had more airships, well, huh, I didn’t have something like this in mind.” The ‘Wizard’ stared at Basil for a moment, as if he didn’t know what to make of Basil’s comments. He took several steps closer, prompting Basil to shoulder his rifle despite his injured arm’s protestation, adrenaline returning to his veins.

“This machine is not ours, it belonged to the demons who attacked us” the ‘Wizard’ said; seemingly not phased by staring down Basil’s rifle, but halting his approach. “Nevertheless, they were no match for our soldiers and my magic.” Basil began to process the implications of the ‘Wizard’s’ statement. “Well,” said Basil, “Time for you to surrender. It’s over, whatever just happened is done. Release your hostages and we’ll figure out what the fuck those ‘demons’ were and if they’re still a threat.” The Wizard smiled as if he found Basil amusing. “Did you not hear? They are dead. And it is you who should be surrendering.” Spiro suddenly chimed in, finally seeming to catch up to the situation. “Are you crazy, I just saw Basil wipe out a squad of your soldiers in seconds. You think your dagger and two soldiers can stop him?” The Wizard laughed out loud at that comment, waiting in silence as if he was unsure if he should dignify it with a response. “Basil, if you surrender now you will be free to go, his majesty will almost certainly make the mistake of considering you an ally even after this. The rest of you will be treated fairly and released once the surviving heir has agreed to reasonable peace terms.”

With the words ‘surviving heir’ Cicero and Casio looked enraged and took several steps closer, weapons in hand. “Kill him!” shouted Cicero, looking directly at Basil. “It’s all over, put your weapon down” Basil said in response, looking at the Wizard. “Well, we shall see how your weapons fare now, shall we?” replied the Wizard, taking several steps closer to Basil. Basil took several steps back, and realizing he was pressed against the wall fired one shot into the Wizard. Everyone’s ears in the craft began to ring loudly, except for the Wizard’s, unknown to the four. Seeming unfazed, the Wizard drew a dagger from his cloak and Basil responded with a half dozen shots of automatic fire. Basil, like the previous encounter, did not intend to stop firing - but unknown to him his weapon had jammed. He heard something along the lines of “Regret … unpermitted … kill” from the Wizard as he closed the distance at an uncanny speed before striking Basil which knocked him down the re-opening ramp.